Are we talking about one single independent hair, or do we mean the entire eyebrow?

My fiancee is of the very strange impression that after an eyelash or eyebrow falls out, it you catch it or pluck it from your face, you are to put it into your hair on the top of your head. Why? I have no idea. And I can not ask her, because she is home with Malaria Falciparum. And I can not stay home as I have the night shift Supervisory dyuties for the OpsCen, sorry.

Keeve

11-26-2001, 10:01 AM

I have individual hairs falling out all the time. Just like the hair from the top of my head falls (or gets pulled) out as well. I think it's supposed to do this.

Lamia

11-26-2001, 10:04 AM

Has she seen a doctor about this? Hypothyroidism can cause the eyebrows to fall out (usually the outer half of the brow). Hypothyroidism can become a serious problem if left untreated, but fortunately it can be treated easily with medication.

JungleLove

11-26-2001, 10:29 AM

It was her entire eyebrow.

She mentioned last year that it was growing back, but I saw her over Thanksgiving and she still has to draw the left one on....
Isn't that horrible? She said that she heard stress could have caused it.

If memory serves, her eyebrow fell out almost two years ago and it still hasn't grown back. She needs help.

She goes to the doctor periodically. She is pretty overweight. The hair on her scalp is not falling out.
I'll mention the hyperthyroidism to her, so she can get it checked out.

lieu

11-26-2001, 10:43 AM

If she's got a sense of humor, give her one of those
Groucho Marx glasses get-ups, minus the nose and one eyebrow.

But only if.

Keeve

11-26-2001, 10:53 AM

All the hairs of one eyebrow fell out two years ago, and all the hairs of the other eyebrow are still there? That sounds very weird. I'd love to know more about this.

JungleLove

11-26-2001, 12:44 PM

Okay, so there may not be any great advice out there for her, except, "Live with it." Fair enough.

No.....nice try (and creative), but she doesn't have trichotillomania. I've known her for almost ten years & I'd have noticed if she <i>tugged</i> on her hair or eyebrows. And she's 26, not a child.

And why did just <i>one</i> eyebrow fall out and not both?

And you referenced one of my favorite sources-- the DSM, where children eating dirt and grass are suffering from a disorder.....

Broomstick

11-26-2001, 05:11 PM

Well, it's possible to have an isolated bald spot. Baldness has the fancy name alopecia - alopecia universalis unconnected to poisoning or medical treatment for cancer is basically when every hair on your body falls out for no explicable reason. There's an alopecia (something-something-something) that is medical talk for "the hair fell out of this spot on your body and we don't know why, but it's probably not a serious problem".

So maybe her eyebrow just decided to go AWOL.

Certainly she should be checked out to make sure this isn't a sign of something serious, but yeah, it's possible to go bald in spots.

robcaro

11-26-2001, 05:53 PM

Restoring Eyebrows

The most common reasons for performing eyebrow restoration are the following:

Hair loss from many years of over aggressive tweezing

Permanent eyebrow tattoos that don't look natural

Skin conditions that cause permanent hair loss (alopecia areata is the most common, but the doctor must be relatively certain that the condition is stable).

Scarring from surgery, burns, or other injury

Restoring eyebrow hair is an equally rewarding endeavor as this structure is so important to a persons appearance, perhaps even more so than scalp hair. The secret to eyebrow transplantation (as in other types of hair restoration) is to closely observe nature. Unlike scalp hair, the eyebrows consist of only one-hair follicular units, so that if the source of hair is the larger follicular units obtained from the permanent zone in the back of the scalp, these units (of 2-, 3-, and 4-hairs) must be carefully split up into individual follicles under the microscope.

Replicating the unique directional changes of eyebrow hair is also critical to a successful restoration. The hair points upward in its medial aspect (near the nose) and then fans outward as one moves towards the temples. However, the angles are not quite so simple. As one moves laterally (towards the temples), the hair in the upper half of the brow points to the side and down, and the hair in the lower half points to the side and up. The upper and lower hairs interdigitate causing the central part of the eyebrow to slightly rise and form a gentle ridge which give the eyebrow its unique "herringbone" shape. This interlocking also keeps the eyebrow hair orderly and "neat" in appearance. All of the eyebrow hair emerges from the skin at a very acute angle (almost flat), so that the recipient sites must be made with the needle actually lying on the skin surface.

Just as the outer edge of the female hairline is often comprised of finer hair, so are the outer boarders of the eyebrows. In a sense, each eyebrow can be viewed as a cosmetic unit, just as the scalp, with transition zones of fine hair around much of the perimeter. As with the frontal hairline and temples, this fine hair may be replicated by removing the bulb (cutting off the bottom) of a normal terminal follicle. The practice of using all fine hair for the eyebrows is incorrect since the eyebrows, like the scalp, require a central area of greater density, and bulk, and this is best accomplished with intact (but in this case individual) hair follicles. In all cases, multiple sessions are needed for a complete eyebrow restoration.

PunditLisa

11-26-2001, 06:01 PM

Jung, there are times when it's best to actually visit a real, live doctor. This is one of those times.

It may, in fact, be nothing more than an innocuous cosmetic condition. I, for one, have never come across someone whose eyebrows fell out en masse and I daresay it isn't a common condition. So, if I were you, I'd urge my friend to see a doctor on the chance that it could be an indicator of something more serious.

Lamia

11-26-2001, 07:01 PM

Originally posted by JungleLove
She goes to the doctor periodically. She is pretty overweight. The hair on her scalp is not falling out.
I'll mention the hyperthyroidism to her, so she can get it checked out.

That's hypothyroidism, or an underactive thyroid gland. Hyperthyroidism is the opposite. Hypothyroidism can also cause weight gain, so if she is overweight it is a very real possibility.